Chapter 55 - 53

The full moon was raised up above the sky as it shone briliantly. Inside the inn, in the rented room of Zero, they started to discussed about Xeris. Zero told Chun about the ice princess which made the girl surprised as she had no memory about the ice princess, she still listened to what the youth was saying.

Fortunately, Titus was nearby as she asked the deity about it.

"You mean the ice princess? Oh, she was a messenger of those deities between the mortals. I have no certain memories of her as I was already locked in here for six hundred years. Though as what that young man had stated, the ice princess had likely betrayed them as she shifted her faction to the Greatworld king---"

"You mean she fell in love to the human so she betrayed them," Chun corrected.

"I don't know about that," Titus shrugged as he was about to go out the hut when the girl stopped him with a question.

"How can you say that she betrayed them?"

Hearing that question, Titus answered ambiguously, "You could incur the wrath of all kinds of being but you should not test the deities. We're wicked despite of being a deity. And trust is the most important thing to us."

"You just admitted that you're not good!"

"Did I deny it?" Titus shrugged as he walked off.

'That's why I don't trust him. Trust is an important thing to a deity? Such hypocrisy.'

Chun thought as she turned her attention to Zero.

"So ice princess said that you should avoid the Serpents which was a loyal servants of Xeris?"

Zero affirmed as he explained his predicament. They started to plan out his venture to the royal palace, he needed to avoid that Jin person and his team. As the young man remembered the warning signs of the system about the deity's hostility to him, though on the surface, Jin wasn't even looking at him while the hostility rate kept increasing. Deities were truly deceiving, he live up to his title as a deity.

"I believed that Xeris will not kill you personally but his servants will. So we need to see who were these Serpents of his."

"Then we should meet the ice princess to be accurate of our plan," Zero suggested.

Chun agreed easily as she wanted to see this ice princess, she might regain some familiarity with her.

The streets were in serene silent as it was 12 in the midnight. People were asleep in their homes as the dimly lit path welcomed the young man as he walked on foot. Fortunately, the inn was located in the outskirts of the city so the youth could easily travel to the outside.

The soldiers were still patrolling the gates while the young man went out with no difficulty as the guards recognized him. Having an identity as a 'prince' made him got an easy ticket.

Zero finally arrived at a peaceful neighborhood where he had rented a humble home for the two 'kidnapped' individuals to stay in and as the war was now prevented, he could dismissed their act.

Unassumingly, the place was quiet as if there was no person living here. Where were they? He looked for them but a piece of paper on the table caught his attention.

'Hello to you, Great Conqueror. Unfortunately, I didn't even had a chance to bid my wishes to you personally as I was occupied by this two naughty people. Don't you worry, I just tied them and a sword would accidentally slip from my hands and struck them if you won't come here soon. There is a teleportation array inside the house, I specially prepared it for you.

Wish you bloodied luck! Hope to see you soon!

-Serpents'

(And speaking of the devils.)

Chun commented as she had a glare while looking at the paper. Zero was no different from her as he was seething his anger from the bastard who took them. He felt that the Serpents was the culprit he was looking for.

The culprit who killed the two princesses.

(Are you going to rescue them?)

The girl asked as she observed the grim face of the youth. She knew already his answer, though. But…

(If you're going to rescue them. You need to open another 10 seals of the Phoenix Bloodline? Are you okay with that?)

"How much time do I need?" Zero decisively asked as the girl smiled at the youth's reaction.

(Based on your progress, you need five hours to completely open them---)

"Lower. Two hours, can it suffice?"

(Your life will be the exchange of this so regrets will not count, are you sure?)

"Yes," Zero decided in his serious tone. He wouldn't let the murderer get away, even though, Zero didn't understand anything about friendship or close ties, he still needed to save those two people as he didn't want to be burdened with their lives if they die as he was the reason of all of this. And if the lives of the two would be dealt, war would not only prevented but color of blood would taint the grounds of two nations.

Zero locked the doors and closed the windows of the house as he sat on the floor. He concentrated the circulation of his qi energy inside his body and he noticed that his cultivation realm lately, increased for the past days due to his cultivation with the Phoenix Bloodline, the art did not only increased his fire ability but it improved as well his realm.

He was now at the Middle stage of the Late realm which was a feat to him as he just spent two years of cultivation and he already reached the Late realm when usually common martial practitioners would spent thirty years to reach that cultivation realm while geniuses would spent ten years. Aside from Chun who already had an absurd constitution, Zero's feat was one of the inhumane cultivator that you could only witness once in a decade.

'Fire is self-interested' The sixth step.

It only pursued the the interest of one's self with no regards for others. It did not ask for the cultivator to be greedy but to think for himself as well. In order to be able to utilize the greatness of the Phoenix Bloodline, a cultivator of this art should need to sacrifice half of his thoughts for other matters and concentrate it in building the flames of Asura.

The flames of Asura was like the qi whirlpool but it doesn't contained the qi energy but the unnecessary thoughts of the cultivator. It says that you need to feed your thoughts to the fire in order to gain peace. Unload the burdens of your mind and relax.

It was similar to the first step in order to ȧssume formlessness but this one needed concentration and manipulation.

To avoid any mishaps, Chun used her power to ȧssist the young man in cultivation. She guided the turbulent fire energy on his body as he cultivated with ease, though, when they reached the eleventh step, Zero finally felt pain from his hasty cultivation but it was still a bit bearable due to Chun's effort.

Chun reminded as she sweated, she was not only explaining the steps but she was also imprinting it inside the youth's perception. This was the chosen direction of the young man so he must not regret it.

Bulging veins were visible on Zero's temples as he persevered. It was now a race of time as the lives of Xiu Jia and Lerrent were at the hands of the enemy so he needed bear the difficulty to get stronger. As an unbearable pain started to kick in his mind, suddenly a flash of scene appeared.

"Are you sure about your decision?" A familiar feminine voice spoke as it followed a man in formal suit. The man put down his top hat on the table as he didn't turn to look at the lady as he answered with no emotion on his tone

"It doesn't matter," the voice of the man was very familiar that Zero felt that he was the one talking.

"Why? You're life is inline for this! You could just abandon that Circus to save yourself!"

"Don't remind me because I know and the Circus is my family and the people under it. You cannot leave your own family to fend off for themselves."

"But Ze--"

"Stop. You just need to return the favor as I'd helped you escaped with that mortal." The woman helplessly agreed with the man.

And the scene changed.